Temporary employee has no right to continue in post: SC

The apex court said that there is no principle of law that a person appointed in a temporary capacity has a right to continue till a regular selection is made.

“Rather, the legal position is just the reverse, that is, a temporary employee has no right to the post,” the apex court observed, citing its earlier ruling.

The bench passed the observation while upholding an appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh Government challenging the direction of the Allahabad High Court direction to retain a temporary stenographer Ram Ahdar till the selected steno joined the post.

Ahadar had approached the high court after the Government rejected his plea for continuance in the post.

However, the apex court did not agree with the High Court’s order and held that the temporary employee had no right of continuing in a post.

“Hence, he (Ahadar) has no right to continue even for a day as of right, far from having a right to continue till a regular appointment,” the bench observed.

The apex court also said appointments to posts requiring special skills should be based only on merit.

However, very often such appointments are not made on merit but on some recommendations, and such appointees are very often incompetent, the apex court said.

“If an incompetent stenographer is appointed for the court the result will be that the correct order passed by the judge will not be recorded, and this will create many problems. Much of the time of the judge will be spent on making corrections,” the apex court added.